The grocery store where the owner used to give the vagabond hippie ski bums credit to get food between government cheques, now sells furniture marked up 600 percent (at least) and is destined for the patio of one of the Calgary politicos who now calls Canmore home. It’s just one of the massive changes that were always bound to come to this small mountain town, but were sped up after the opening of the Olympic Nordic Center for the 1988 Olympics.
The place I stop to eat and oogle the mountains and reminisce is across from what was the new library 27 years ago when I lived here. Now it is such a rich place that the restaurant I write this from actually has two owners, who serve entirely different menus. The Mexican fellow I talk with (Aroma) takes breakfast and lunch, the other owner (Zona’s) takes dinner. “It is very expensive to rent this place,” he says. “But I think it works well sharing with the other people.” And he definitely seems happy, like perhaps the view of Chinaman’s Peak is more inspiring than the one he had in Mexico City or even Montreal after that. And I have to agree; This is one of the best patios in Canmore, or just about anywhere else I’ve travelled.
